Johnny Depp Eying Paul Revere, Dante And More

Though he certainly could happily retire on his “Pirates” loot, never let it be said that [movieperson id="16504"]Johnny Depp[/movieperson] is not one of the hardest-working men in Hollywood.

This week, news broke of three new potential Depp projects in early discussions. Though he has commitments to Tim Burton’s “Dark Shadows” remake and Gore Verbinski’s “The Lone Ranger” update at the moment, and has said he would consider future installments of the “Pirates of the Caribbean” franchise, it sounds like Depp is trying to keep himself busy for the foreseeable future.

Deadline reports that two of the movies are being set up with Disney (Depp’s go-to company these days). The first is a feature film version of “The Night Stalker,” a 1970s TV horror movie and series that tells the story of tabloid reporter Carl Kolchak after he stumbles upon a series of supernatural killers. The second is an untitled Paul Revere film that Depp is working on with “Batman Forever” writers Lee and Janet Batchler. It would follow Revere during the 24-hour time period in which he made his legendary midnight ride to warn the revolutionaries that the British were coming. Depp would potentially star as the lead in both films.

And earlier this week, “Miral” director Julian Schnabel let slip the other bit of Depp news during an interview with The Playlist, when he stated that the “Pirates” star had approached him about an adaptation of “In the Hand of Dante.” Depp had purchased film rights to the book by Nick Tosches several years ago and asked Schnabel to consider it as his next project. It’s not clear if Depp would star in the movie.

“I’m not going to make it for a couple of years,” Schnabel said of the adaptation of the novel, which weaves the story of the 14th century poet and that of a contemporary writer caught up in the potential black market sale of Dante’s “Divine Comedy” manuscript. “We’re gonna work on writing it, developing it. We didn’t sign anything. It’s just something Johnny asked me to read, and I think it’s a great book, so maybe you should read it. It’s pretty beautiful. It’s about everything.”

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